Lake of Cutilia

Lore & Background

The lake took its name from the settlement of Cutiliae or Cutilium on its shores. Varro wrote that the lake was inhabited by nymphs called lymphae commotiles or commotiae, whose presence explained the floating island. Pliny the Elder made similar observations. The floating island was formed by overgrown plants, favored by the marsh's murkiness, and was compared to the island of Delos.

According to Macrobius, the Pelasgians, after being expelled from their territory, consulted the oracle at Dodona and were told to go to the Saturnian land of the Siculi and Aborigines, to Cutilia, where a floating island existed. They were to expel the locals and sacrifice a tenth of their booty, including human captives, to Phoebus and Hades. They occupied the island, expelled the Siculi, and built a shrine to Dis and an altar to Saturn, naming the feast Saturnalia after him. Human sacrifices continued until Hercules persuaded their descendants to replace human heads with masks and honor the altar with lamps, interpreting 'phota' as 'lamps' rather than 'lives'.

The place was a fenced sacred area with an oracle influential among the Sabines. The Sabine ver sacrum migrations sometimes began here; one instance involved seven thousand sacrales led by Comus (or Cominus) Castronius, who founded Bovianum and gave rise to the Samnite nation.

Reader's Guide

The Lake of Cutilia holds significance as a sacred site of the Sabines and a key location in the mythological origins of the Saturnalia festival. Its floating island, described by Varro and Pliny, and its oracle made it a center of religious and migratory activity for early Italic peoples. The lake's spring, with its extremely cold and medicinal waters, attracted Roman emperors: Vespasian visited every summer to drink the waters and died there, as did his son Titus. The site thus bridges Sabine religious traditions, Roman imperial history, and the development of Roman festivals. The account of the Pelasgians and the replacement of human sacrifice with masks and lamps illustrates a shift in ritual practice attributed to Hercules. The lake's role in the ver sacrum migrations highlights its importance in the formation of the Samnite nation.

Did You Know?

• Varro called the lake the 'navel of Italy'.
• The lake's floating island was compared to the island of Delos.
• Emperor Vespasian died at the nearby baths of Aquae Cutiliae.
• The Pelasgians were instructed by an oracle to sacrifice a tenth of their booty, including human captives, to Phoebus and Hades.